Kane & Abel Plead Guilty In Federal Cocaine Case

Identical twin rappers Kane & Abel could spend up to three years in jail after pleading guilty in a federal cocaine case in New Orleans on Friday — the second time they’ve been arraigned in the case, their lawyer said.

The former No Limit MCs (born Daniel and David Garcia) reached an agreement with prosecutors in which they admitted to committing misprision of a felony (concealing knowledge of a felony that they did not participate in) by lying to federal agents about the activities of drug kingpin Richard Pena.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance rejected an earlier plea agreement that came with a sentence of two years in jail, saying it was too lenient. In that rejected deal, the rappers pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges, admitting to receiving 10 kilograms of cocaine from Pena in 1996 and 1997.

The judge will announce whether she accepts the new agreement at the rappers’ sentencing hearing on September 12. “We’re hoping at that point the case will be at a close,” Kane & Abel attorney Richard Westling said.

Prosecutors claim Pena lawfully financed the rappers’ music careers after the Garcias met him while studying at Xavier University. But when the relationship deteriorated, they say, he put them to work in his drug ring.

Pena was arrested in 1997 and pleaded guilty to eight murders. Kane & Abel’s rejected deal would have required the rappers to tape anti-drug TV ads to air in several cities, including New Orleans, Westling said. The rappers also would have had to give school lectures and include anti-drug literature in all albums sold by their label, Most Wanted Records.